It is something we have done for the past two years. We’ll probably continue to do it for another two years, maybe even longer. It was that significant of a deal for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who on Sept. 18, 2009, sent two first-round draft picks and a second-round pick to the Boston Bruins for Phil Kessel.

Since then, the Leafs have missed the playoffs twice, finishing 29th overall in 2009-10 and 22nd last season. The Bruins, who drafted Tyler Seguin and two other top prospects (Jared Knight and Dougie Hamilton), have won a Stanley Cup.

So, do we really have to get out the scorecard to determine a winner?

“Peter Chiarelli has a ring. There’s no argument,” Leafs general manager Brian Burke said of his Bruins counterpart prior to Boston’s 6-2 win against Toronto on Thursday night. “Whenever people question whether the trade worked or not, he holds up his right hand and you can’t say anything.”

Burke cannot do that. Not yet anyway.

But just because Boston has won does not necessarily mean that Toronto has lost. A perfect trade in Burke’s mind is one that benefits both teams equally. And with Kessel leading the NHL in goals (seven) and points (12) after six games, the deal is looking slightly less lopsided than Thursday’s night’s final score.

“When people ask: Would we make the trade again? I say, ‘In a heartbeat,’ ” said Burke. “I don’t care about the other team. I think Phil is a great player for us and he’s showing it.

“The goals and assists are nice. But he’s been so much more.”

And yet, the Leafs still need more. Not out of Kessel, but out of the rest of their players. Boston won the Cup with depth. They did not have a player in the top 30 in scoring, but they had three forward lines that could score, a fact they showed when six different players scored on Thursday night, including Seguin, who added two assists.

The Leafs have just one line scoring and it went cold against the Bruins.

After playing their first five games at home against inferior opponents who will probably not qualify for the playoffs, this was Toronto’s first real test. Boston had been showing early symptoms of a Stanley Cup hangover, but their fever broke against Toronto.

The Leafs scored first when David Steckel converted a pass in the slot from Nazem Kadri. But the Bruins, who outshot the Leafs 18-7 in the first period, answered back with three straight goals. They would add another three in the third period, before Mikhail Grabovski scored his second of the year.

Part of the problem might have been backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who also allowed six goals in his last NHL start on Jan. 19. But the bigger issue was a lack of secondary scoring.

Kessel entered the game on a five-game point streak, having scored 43.8% of Toronto’s goals. But he cannot do it alone. And with his former team seemingly knowing his every move – he managed just one shot on net — the Leafs needed to bail him out.

Therein lies the problem with the Kessel trade. Burke gave up a lot for one player. But one player does not get you a playoff spot. One player is just a start.

So while Kessel appears to be developing into the type of player that the Leafs could have hoped for, he needs to be surrounded with other stars.

Perhaps Kadri, who was selected seventh overall in 2009, can be that player. Or maybe Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin or Matt Frattin, who have combined for three goals in six games, will join the offence.

As it stands, this early start has been a bit of a mirage.

“I think a realistic yardstick is 20 games,” said Burke, when asked what he made of the team’s performance so far. “That being said, these points that they’ve put in the bank are important come March or April. But you can’t just have a great start and then fizzle. That flame has to be sustainable. That’s the challenge.”